Salazar's Heir
by Wilona Riva
Summary: Sequel to Academy of Witches. Harry and Danny attend their second year at Hogwarts and learn about the Chamber of Secrets.  Important! Read the author's note inside.
1. Hot Names

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Harry Potter.

* * *

_Act II of our saga now begins. I decided to keep most of the original version in tact. I will be jumping from plot point to plot point, so there are lot of things I'll be skipping over. There won't be so much action as in the last story; I'll go back to that in the third installment. There are a few fillers, such as the poem with Fang. The original version had a lot of really short chapters, so I combined quite a few to make it longer. The total chapter length has gone down from 29 to 18._

* * *

**Hot Names**

* * *

"Sam."

"Will you quit it, already!" Harry yelled exasperatingly at his brother for the fourth time that night. "I'm trying to get the calibrations right on the portal or so help me, the first one of us through will end up in Antarctica or in another dimension."

Danny put down the wrench he had been using as a microphone to chant his beloved's name. "Can't help it if she's hot," he retorted. "Besides, Dad did that already."

Harry chuckled. "Good thing Mom was out of town that week or worse than radioactive fudge would have been clinging to the ceiling fan in the living room."

Danny nodded. "The House Cup Ceremony was quite interesting this year. I never thought I'd see a den of angry vipers up close and personal before."

_Huh?_

"Nothing, Featherhead. Go back to sleep," Harry said, feeling his pet ghost python move his coils a bit as he slowly awakened.

_Music?_

"A bit of music, maestro, if you will?" Harry mock-bowed to Danny, who hit the button on the ecto-music box Maddie had shipped to them, while they set about making Nightingale Manor livable again.

The beautiful strains of Enya's "Shepherd Moons" softly tinkled from the eighteen inch chrome radio.

_Ah, my beautiful darling. Why won't you run to me so I could hear your voice forever?_

Harry didn't bother translating that comment; his mind was far away, reflecting on the events of the last week.

_"Potter's behind this. I know it," the sound of Draco Malfoy's voice carried over to the Griffindor table._

_"And how is this my brother's fault?" Danny scowled. "Dumbledore was perfectly within his rights to add those points to Griffindor."_

_"Still cheating," Draco sulked._

_"Tell you what," Danny replied, putting his face right into Draco's. "Face down Voldemort, then see if I give a fig." _

"Come on," Danny grumbled, breaking into Harry's thoughts. "The sooner we can get this portal up, the sooner we can get home. I hate this drafty old house."

"Me too," Harry agreed.

"By the way, what did Hagrid give you just before we boarded the Express?" Danny inquired, passing him the wrench-microphone.

"A photo album of my parents and some of their friends. Hagrid wrote to everyone that knew them and compiled the album for me," Harry answered, pausing to wipe a tear from his eye. "It was nice of him to do that."

"Do the pictures move like they did in Hogwarts?" Danny asked.

"Yeah. Why?"

Danny smirked. "Oh, no reason."

Harry hid a grin as he got back to work. Danny's tone did not bode well for Jazz.

* * *

"Dobby, you wretched cur!"

"I's sorry, Master, sir," the house elf bobbed, while trying to wipe the tea off his master's leather shoe.

"Never you mind that, elf. Fetch me the leather bag on the third shelf in the armory," Dobby's master ordered.

"The one across from the chimera exoskeleton, sir?" the house elf asked, looking at the patterns in the tiled floor.

"Yes," his master replied

"Right away, sir."

_Harry Potter must not go back to Hogwarts,_ he decided, leaving to fetch said object per his master's command.

* * *

"Gram, Griffindor beat Slytherin out for the House Cup for the first time in six years. Or was it seven? I forget, but guess what?"

Mrs. Longbottom hid a secret smile as her grandson bounced excitedly on his tiptoes. "What, dear?" she asked gently.

"Me. I actually stood up for what was right and Dumbledore gave me the winning ten points," Neville's voice cracked as he sobered. "Do you think Mom and Dad would have been proud of me?"

Mrs. Longbottom gathered him into her arms and looked down into his eyes. "Yes," she told him. "They would be proud of you."

He hugged her. "Me too, Gram."

* * *

"Welcome home, Sammy-kins!" Pamela Manson squealed, causing Roo-Roo to let out a loud screech in angry surprise.

"He says your screeching is worse than a drunken banshee on Saint Patrick's Day," Sam translated, winking at her father and grandmother, who stiffled their laughter.

Pamela's mouth opened and closed like a fish. "It can talk?"

"No," Sam smiled. "But I can talk to him in Owl."

Jeremy sighed. "I should have known," he muttered to Grandma Ida.

"Whoo-hoo!" she whispered, winking conspiratorially at her young granddaughter. "We're gonna have fun this summer."

Sam had to agree, wishing that Danny and Harry were home already. Tucker was away at computer camp for the next two weeks, so she was stuck entertaining herself until then.


	2. Stormy Sky

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Harry Potter.

* * *

**Stormy Sky**

* * *

It had been week since Danny and Harry had returned home from Nightingale Manor. The portal was up and running effectively in the library. John Fenton-Nightingale had not been pleased, but considering his current family's circumstances, did not raised too much of a stink. He was still busy contemplating the familiarity of the half-ghost child known as Daniel.

"What's wrong?" Phantom asked, flying into the schoolyard. "Mom's been worried sick trying to find you. You're lucky she hasn't formed a search and rescue party yet."

"Nothing," Harry tersely replied. "Just something Jazz said earlier gave me food for thought."

"About what?"

"Ghosts," came the unexpected answer. "In particular: Nearly Headless Nick."

Danny frowned slightly. "I wish there was something we could do to help him remedy that situation. He's always moping about it being the cause he can't join the Headless Hunt."

Harry nodded, then his eyes lit up. "Maybe Mom might have a solution?"

"Possibility. Come on, I'll fly us home."

Something was amiss when they got back. Harry's eyes swept the room and lit on Hedwig's cage. No Hedwig.

He sighed and went downstairs to find his mother making smores with his father over a small glowing green brazier, while watching a checkers tournament on ESPN.

"Hey, Mom, have you seen Hedwig?" he asked, once a commercial came on.

"Yes, dear. A letter came for you today, so I borrowed her to send back a reply."

He blinked. "What did it say?"

"It was a boy named Ron who wanted to know if you could come and spend a few days with him at his home in England."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise. "That's great, Mom!"

His father's eyes twinkled. "I don't know about you travelling all that way, Harry. You do have school beginning in a month or two, not to mention your birthday is next week."

Danny watched as his brother's face fell. "But, _Dad_...!"

"The tournament's back on, sweetie," his mother answered. "I owled back and said you could spend the last two weeks of summer there and his family agreed to help you catch the train. Danny will need to stay here for when his tutor arrives."

"Tutor?" Danny asked, his voice squeaking a bit. "But I've been going every day to Clockwork's, where I'm working on my powers."

"Yes, but you'll be beginning Transfiguration this year and need to catch up on everything you missed last year," Professor McGonagall said as she apparated into the room. "That's where I come in."

"Please tell me Tucker's home," Danny pleaded with Harry.

"Nope, not for three more days," Harry said, feeling sorry for Danny. "Besides, I'll probably be roped into the study sessions as well."

"Right you are, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall said with a smile.

* * *

"Hey, Manson," the chipper girl behind the cash counter greeted Sam when she walked into her favorite bookstore: the Skulk and Lurk.

Sam shook her head. Amy was the only worker there who wasn't goth or perpetually depressed. Why she wanted to work in a gothic hangout, she would never figure out.

"Hi, Amy," she greeted back. "I see you dyed your hair again."

"You like it?" Amy flounced her short blue bob. "Mr. Psapa said to go with the flow and at least dress goth, if I'm not going to act it."

"Somehow, I don't think he meant a neon pink mini-tee with Winnie-the-Pooh on it and a black plaid mini-skirt," Sam pointed out, eyeing the girl's horrendous attire.

"Probably not," Amy said, giving herself the once over.

"We'll go shopping when you get off," Sam told her. "I know this great store."

Amy smiled. "Thank you, Sam."

"No problem," she replied.

"Now, what can I get for you today?"

"I have a friend whose birthday is next week. He's interested in books, magic, ghosts, giant snakes, classical music, junk food, and video games. Got anything in that territory?" Sam asked her.

"It has to be Harry Fenton," Amy clucked. "Danny was in here earlier looking for him."

Sam laughed. "I can believe it. "

* * *

"Round green eyes?" Danny asked. "Are you sure it wasn't Youngblood playing tricks again?"

"Hey!"

"No, it wasn't him," Harry replied. "Although why Mom and Dad turned the lab into a hedge maze is beyond me."

"You're not the only one," Jazz said, as she breezed through the kitchen and out the back door.

Danny rolled his eyes.

"We are Fentons," he said, as McGonagall waltzed into the kitchen. "Weird's just built into us."

"Tell me about it," Harry muttered, thinking about the Dash-and-Paulina episode the day after they had returned from England. "On second thought, don't. Just pass the root beer and vanilla ice cream. I need comfort food."

"A soda buzz and a sugar high, you mean," Danny replied, shifting back to human form.

Much to Professor McGonagall's surprise, Daniel Fenton-Nightingale most often preferred his human side to his ghostly half as she observed the exchange between the boys.

_This should be an interesting summer, _she thought, seeing said boy exhale a wisp of blue air.

"Ah, my lovely, we shall brew lovely drinks together," a high-pitched nasal voice sounded from near the kitchen sink. All three heads turned to see the Ghost Master of All Things Technological (and Long-Winded Speeches) holding the Fentons' coffee pot.

Danny sighed. "I'll get him." He was just glad it was an ordinary coffee pot and not one of his parents' rejects. Last thing he needed was for it to come to life. He powered up a ball of ecto-energy and released it.

"DANNY, NOT IN THE KITCHEN!" Harry yelled as an ecto-ray went awry, causing the coffee pot to explode, and showered the room with coffee grounds.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" Maddie yelled from the living room.

"Nothing, Mom," Harry called back as Danny freaked out, rushing to clean up the mess.

Professor McGonagall's mouth twitched. "Like this," she instructed him, waving her wand. "_Evanesco."_


	3. Swollen Storm

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Harry Potter.

* * *

**Swollen Storm**

* * *

The two halfas stared at each other from the across the way.

"It's too dangerous," Plasmius hissed. "He's yet a child."

Clockwork sighed. "You each need to learn about the other's past. This is a bit of old magic that few remember in your world."

Danny blinked. "Old magic?"

Clockwork nodded. "Yes, I believe the British wizards use a form of it still-the Pensieve."

Plasmius ran a hand through his hair. "So, how shall we do this?" he queried.

Clockwork produced a golden orb from the folds of his cloak. "Just hold on to this." he said, tossing it to Vlad.

Vlad caught it, then felt like he'd been plunged into ice water. Looking around, he found himself in a strangely modern Muggle kitchen. Professor McGonagall, the Fenton boys, and the family ghosts sans parrot, were sitting at the table, talking with a little creature, definitely not of the Muggle world.

_"So, you're a house elf?" Harry asked._

_"Dobby is," the little creature demurely replied, green eyes trained on the floor._

_"And you wish Harry to give up his education at the finest magical institution in Britain?" McGonagall added, trying to size up the situation._

_"Dobby not wish Harry to go, but go he must. Bad wizard...Dobby must not say..." the little creature gave out a thin wail and started banging his head with a salt cellar._

_Danny phased it out of his hands. "Please, don't hurt yourself."_

_Harry knelt down to Dobby's eye level. "I understand you can't betray your family, but never torture yourself over something you can't control. Thank you for coming to warn me about whatever you can't tell me, but I will be going to Hogwarts in the fall."_

_Dobby shook his head. "Promise me, Harry Potter, that you will not go back to Hogwarts."_

_"That I will not do, Dobby, even for you," Harry replied._

_"Then I will take my leave," the house elf replied, defeated._

_"What a strange little man," Youngblood said, taking another swig of root beer, then letting out a loud belch._

_"You are so lucky, only I can see or hear you right now," Danny glared at him._

_"Yeah, lucky me," Youngblood cheered._

Plasmius broke the vision.

"How many root beers did the child drink?" he asked Danny.

"Half a case," the younger halfa replied, looking away.

"I'm sorry," Plasmius murmured handing the globe over.

Danny twirled the sphere in his hands and allowed the icy cold to numb his hands.

_"Crucio!" the cold snake-like voice of Voldemort rasped out._

_The newborn halfa screamed in pain as the curse passed through his soul like a acid-coated knife. "Please, no more. I beg you." _

_"Again," the Dark Lord ordered. "My Death Eaters do not beg."_

Professor Masters' screams echoed in Danny's ears as he cut the connection. Danny couldn't stop the tears flowing down his face.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I never knew."

"It's okay," Plasmius answered, cradling the younger halfa in arms, mentally cursing the Time Master.

* * *

"Very good, Nightingale, but I don't think a twenty foot high glowing green ice statue of your brother would last very long in this abominable heat," Professor McGonagall stated a couple of mornings later, while everyone admired the effects of Danny's first transfiguration experiment.

"Well, I was going for ghost mint chip ice cream," Danny admitted, blushing a bit. "Youngblood's favorite," he added for Sam's benefit.

"You'd better get rid of it before Tucker gets here," she warned. "I don't think 'magic is a science' will work with him again."

"He can speak Technogeek," Danny countered.

"That's a label, not a second language," she retorted. "Get rid of it. Now."

"Yes, ma'am!" he briskly saluted. He turned to Professor McGonagall. "What was that spell again?" he asked her.

"_Gemino_," came back the response. "And don't forget to shake your wand counterclockwise in a zigzag pattern.

He raised an eyebrow at this. "I don't remember you telling me this before," he complained.

McGonagall pointed to the ice sculpture with her own wand. "Begin," she tersely replied.

* * *

_Is there a reason you are trussed up like a fat chicken?_

"Hanging out," Youngblood muttered, wincing in pain as fire flashed up his ankles. "Harry's idea, actually."

_For my human, this is not normal._

"Harry said that Jazz said that Danny said that Sam said that this is how people in the Amazon rain forest meet other people."

_In a coat closet?_

* * *

"Let's take the car," Ron suggested. "It would be much faster that way."

"Capital idea, Ron!" Fred chirped, then folded both hands over his mouth. "Oh, no, we forgot something."

"An ocean, dear brother mine," George grinned. "You have to cross a great big bloody ocean to get to Harry's family in America."

Ron sighed. "Ah well, so much for Dad showing me the Anglia's secret feature."

_That_ got the twins' attention. "Do tell," George murmured, pulling Ron into a huddle. "What did Dad do _this_ time that Mom doesn't know?"

Ron knew he was in trouble.

* * *

"_Homorphus_!" Danny shouted, waving his arm up and down furiously.

McGonagall hid a smile. Gullible students were always fun to teach. A glowing greenish-white mist formed around the statue, changing much of it into fog which flew off in the form of little cat's feet. A really bad double pun, if she ever saw one.

It was Dash's voice which brought them back to reality. "Holy football jerseys, Fenton! You have giant glowing green tennis shoes in your backyard."

"Yeah, dude. Where did you find those at-the Incredible Hulk's garage sale?" Tucker asked, joining Dash in gawking at the monstrous ghostly footwear smoking on the grass.

"One of my parents' inventions gone wrong?" Danny asked sheepishly.

"We weren't born yesterday, ya know," Tucker fenced back.

"We weren't?" Dash blinked in surprise.

_Here we go, _came the thought on everyone's mind.

"Quit thinking, Dash, before you hurt yourself," Sam briskling replied, climbing over the fence after them.

* * *

"What are we going to say when the Muggles catch us flying into town?" George asked Ron curiously as he started the car.

Ron was prepared for this. "It was a school project," he replied. "Harry explained about the ghost hunter's school he and Danny fenced to them when they got accepted into Hogwarts This should set their minds at ease."

"Do you even have a license to fly this thing?" Fred interrupted.

"No, but we should be in time for Harry's birthday party, if we hurry," Ron replied.

"This should be interesting," George muttered, knowing with time and distance, and one BIG bloody ocean, they would never make it in time.

Ron changed gears and soared the Anglia into invisibility mode as they took off. He touched the small clockwork gear on the dash. It flashed once and then vanished.

* * *

The Master of Time raised his staff.

Vlad whistled sharply in reply. This was a Master at work!

"I believe you have a party to get to," Clockwork told him. "And a couple of old friends to rendezvous with."

The halfa nodded. "It will be good to see Jack and Maddie again, after all these years."

* * *

**Author's Note: I don't remember who was driving the Anglia, but I'm making it Ron. As for the clockwork gear, Ron received a parcel in the mail with it and instructions on what to do and who was to go with him on the trip.**


	4. Professor Masters

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Professor Masters**

* * *

"So where's the rest of the A-list?" Harry asked Dash, handing him a blueberry soda.

"Kwan's off at some soccer camp in Kansas, while Paulina's partying in Rome with her parents," Dash said, taking a swig. "I had no one but Valerie to hang out with, so when I saw Bad-Luck Tuck here..."

Tucker scowled at him, behind his oversized frames. "Dude, that is so old. I wish people would quit calling me that. So, I knocked a few salt cellars off the table and dropped a paint bucket on a black cat that one time."

Sam's mouth twitched. "The skunk cat?" she queried. "That wasn't an accident, Tucker. Danny dared you to do it."

Dash choked. "That was _you!_ Man, that was a classic."

Harry and Tucker groaned. Only Dash would find humor in unleashing a black cat with a white stripe painted down its back in the girl's locker room.

"Okay, so I did it just before Christmas on a dare," Tucker grumbled, "but still-quit calling me 'Bad-Luck Tuck'. I find it so degrading."

"Thus says the Technogeek," Youngblood quipped, from above them.

"Who asked your opinion?" Danny said, looking up.

"No one," Youngblood said. "I'm still not speaking to you."

"Uh-huh."

"La la la la," Youngblood chanted.

"What's he doing now?" Sam asked Danny curiously.

"Sticking his fingers in his ears and singing 'la la' very off-key," said he.

"You're being childish," Sam told the empty air above Danny, before strolling away.

Dash, Danny, Tucker and Harry followed her; Danny stopped to pick up the smoking hook off the grass from where she had been standing. "Cut it out," he told Youngblood.

"La la la la," came the response.

**BOOM!**

"Hey, an old turquoise car just fell out of the sky!" Dash yelled, pointing skywards.

Everyone came running from all directions. McGonagall was not pleased to see three more of her students literally fall out of thin air.

"Well?" she said, folding her arms. "What do you think the Ministry will say to this infraction of the rules, not to mention, your mother?"

Fred and George quickly pointed at Ron. "His idea."

Ron glared at them. "Some brothers you are," he grumbled. "Sorry, Professor," he apologized. "It was the only mode of transportation that could get us here."

"You could have arranged for a port-key," she told him. "Now, we're going to have to modify these Muggles' memories. You almost ruined the birthday party for Harry Potter."

Ron hung his head in shame.

Dash, meanwhile, went to examine the car. "Cool wheels," he exclaimed. "How'd you get it to fly like that?"

"Magi-uh, in ghost hunters' school," Ron lied, his ears turning red. "It was a first-term project. We all had to make our own flying vehicles out of ordinary objects you find around the house. Our dad likes to tinker with things out in the garage and the Anglia was just sitting there, so we..."

"Asked him to help us soup it up," George finished for him.

"Mom doesn't know," Fred added, with a sly glance at McGonagall. "I'd rather face the Ministry than Mother any day of the week."

"It can still be arranged," McGonagall murmured, ushering them all indoors.

"Nice save," Harry whispered to the Weasley brothers. "For sure, I thought you were goners."

"You and me both," Ron whispered in return.

A wisp of blue smoke escaped Danny's mouth. "Oh no," he moaned, starting to shiver. "I think we have visitors of another kind downstairs."

"You think?" Maddie asked her son, grabbing her double ecto-saber. "Then let's go make them unwelcome."

"You have a weird family," Dash told Danny.

"You don't even know the half of it," Harry answered, thinking of the giant python listing to Enya upstairs in his room. Blame Jazz for starting that other shoe dropped when the gang got downstairs and found the hedge maze completely burned and iced over. Danny wasted no time in transforming, ignoring the fact that Dash knew nothing of his other identity.

"Holy crow," Dash whistled. "Who knew Danny was a ghost?"

"Obliviate," McGonagall said, pointing at the boy with her wand. "Boys, Samantha, why don't you take this child upstairs and do something while we handle this?"

"But Danny may need our help," Sam protested.

"He can handle this," Jack said, reassuring her.

"Jack, dear, don't wave the Bazooka around like that," Maddie asked, ducking the gun's large barrel.

"Sorry, Maddie," he replied sheepishly.

Taking that as their cue, Harry lead the way as they ushered a seriously confused Dash up the stairs. Sam turned back once, her violet eyes locked onto Danny's blurry spectral form, as he blasted a few bushy copses out of his way. "Be careful," she whispered.

* * *

"Plasmius? And Desiree?" a very confused Phantom froze as the intruders detached themselves from the portal. "What the heck are you guys doing here?"

Desiree looked smugly at the vampirish ghost next to her. "You were saying...?"

Plasmius glared at her. "So it did catch his attention," he grumbled. "Now, go back to the Zone before Maddie and that bumbling oafish father of his gets here."

Danny was insulted. "My _what?"_

Desiree saluted them and took off.

Plasmius took a deep breath and summoned his dark energy rings. By the time the ghost hunters and Professor McGonagall arrived, they found a very ticked off Phantom throwing ecto-rays at an equally placid Professor Masters, who absorbed them with his wand.

"Nightingale, stop this at once!" Professor McGonagall's shrill voice shattered the air. "A student attacking a teacher invites expulsion. Are you alright, Vladimir?"

Professor Masters dusted off his suit. "I'm fine, Minerva. Daniel has done no harm."

"Upstairs, now," Maddie told her son curtly. "We'll be discussing your punishment later."

"Yes, ma'am," Danny grumbled, growling angrily at Professor Masters as he passed him by.

Jack rubbed his eyes. "Vladimir Masters? Can it really be you?"

Vlad tensed up as Jack scooped him up in a very painful bear hug. "I need air," he rasped out.

"Oh sorry, V-man. I don't know my own strength," Jack laughed, rubbing the back of his neck.

_Explains where young Daniel picked that one up from, _Vlad thought. "It has been a long time, hasn't it, Jack?"

"Twenty years, V-man. Twenty years."

"So how did you and Minerva meet?" Maddie interrupted the two old friends. "I noticed you two know each other very well."

"Professor Masters teaches Muggle Studies at Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall sniffed. "A tawdry subject."

"That's your own opinion, like with Trelawney and her Divinations," Vlad shot back.

"I didn't know you were a wizard, V-man," Jack said, scratching his head.

"I went to Westmont Academy, a premier Northwestern magic school in northern Wisconsin," Vlad shrugged. "I chose to attend a Muggle college instead of heading to University like many of my peers."

"So, why come here and now of all places?" Maddie asked.

"Because I am like Danny, no thanks to this fat fool here," Vlad said, not bothering to hide his hatred of Jack. "I hope you checked your ingredients and your calculations before you activated this portal, Jack. Ecto-acne is hell on your skin and social life."

* * *

"So tell me about where you live?" Jazz said, plunking herself down on Harry's bed.

"We live in Ottery St. Catchpole," Fred replied. "We have a ghoul in the attic who rattles the pipes, gnomes in the garden, a doddery old owl who can't see straight, and absolutely no privacy."

"Almost no privacy," George added.

"Mum is going to kill us," Ron moaned, his head in his hands.

"It was your idea," George reminded him.

"I was told to do it," Ron said, sitting up straight. "You see, I received this strange parcel in the mail, along with this medallion shaped like a clockwork gear."

Danny rose from the tv, where he'd been watching a chick flick with Sam and Dash. "Tell me more about this medallion," he said, joining them.

* * *

**For future reference, Dash took a picture of the remains of Danny's transfiguration experiment. McGonagall adjusted some of his memories, but not all of them. **


	5. Green Love

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Danny Phantom.

* * *

**Green Love**

* * *

_**Entry for July 31:**_

_My birthday party went off without a hitch. Danny apologized for not getting home sooner, but there had been a problem retrieving my present. I knew he went into the Ghost Zone because he was radiating ecto-energy worse than the portal does when it's open. __I saved his gift for last._

_Not many people showed up-most everyone was at camp still. I got a lot of cool presents though._

_Hermione, by owl, sent me self-inking quills and invisible ink parchment. Should be interesting to try passing a message under McGonagall's nose._

_Valerie gave me a forest green t-shirt that read in white blocky letters: __**I'm human. What are you?**_

_Ron, Fred, and George promised to give me their gifts when we got to their home._

_Mom and Dad allowed Professor Masters to spell my closet to produce the right clothing for any weather or occasion. I still have to get new robes as I've grown some over the summer._

_From Mom and Dad, I received a radio that plays non-stop Classical, Celtic, and Folk music. It was at that moment that Featherhead made an appearance and scared the girls silly by hissing at them and stealing the radio. ( I am not surprised that snake has exceptional hearing.)_

_Sam made a big flourish and produced a set of role-playing cards and an orb that spits fire. She's been talking to Mr. Psapa down at the Skulk-and-Lurk again, or maybe Amy Chandraka._

_Dash gave me a picture of the giant-green sneakers out in the backyard that he'd taken before the Weasley's Anglia obliterated it. (I think I saw Danny wince.) Apparently, Dash is one of the very rare Muggles that mere Obliviating will not completely erase the forbidden memory; McGonagall probably didn't even notice he'd taken that picture._

_Danny's gift, surprisingly, didn't blow up in my face. It was an ornately carved box, that when you pressed a button on the side, it fell to pieces. You had to put it back together again like a puzzle. Each time you played with it, the pieces were always different from the last._

_Rounding out the guest list were Mikey, Nathan, and the new kid down the street: Morningside Forbis. He'll be going to Witchling Middle across town from Tucker and Dash. (It's a new school that offers a non-magical alternative education for non-magical children of witches and wizards in our area.)_

_The three of them saved and scrimped and bought tickets to see Humpty Dumpty's concert in the Amitydrome Stadium. Front-row, might I add. The concert is completely sold out and is TOMORROW NIGHT! How they did it, is beyond me._

_On a side note: Ron got another parcel by owl-post today. It was a Howler from his mother. Mrs. Weasley almost blew out the candles on the cake with all her shouting. I'm really glad mom is not like that._

_(Oh, gross! I caught Professor Masters making a pass at Mom in the kitchen just now. Thankfully, she side-stepped his advances, mashed his fingers in the junk drawer and threw scalding hot water all over his shirt front. Danny's eyes are flashing emerald and red-not good!)_

_Okay, I'm ending this journal entry-which was my gift from Jazz-on a funny note. Youngblood rigged the freezer to spit (non-stop) neopolitan ice cream at people. Some of it got on the floor, but we all ate until we burst._

_This was the best birthday party ever!_

_Harry Potter_

_(I'd sign this 'Harry Fenton', but Professor McGonagall is reading over my shoulder at the moment. Hi, Professor!)_


	6. Rainbow Wings

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Danny Phantom.

* * *

_If you thought they were bi-polar before..._

* * *

**Rainbow Wings**

* * *

"Dobby betray Master!" a fellow House Elf accused the green-eyed wretch sobbing in the corner by the stove.

"Dobby knows," the accused replied. "Dobby burned hands," the House Elf showed his fellow slave the fiery scars-testament to his many years of self-abuse.

"Triggert hear House Nightingale need House Elf. New Master a true Nightingale-not Fenton," a third voice piped up. "Nogo of House Fudge tell Triggert in Diagon Alley."

"I's no trust no Ministry Elf," Dobby winced. "I's not betray Master Malfoy."

"What Dobby going to do?" Triggert asked, pausing in the act of pouring the afternoon tea.

"Dobby know Harry Potter need to take train to Hogwarts. He not get on the train. Dobby will see to that," Dobby said primly.

"Good," the Head Chef said, sticking his over large nose in the room. "It be tea time. Where's the scones?"

* * *

"What was that all about?" Jazz asked, the day after the concert. "I heard the shouting all the way outside."

"Ron Weasley," Danny said in disgust. "He is such a bloody git."

"You sounded positively British just then," his sister teased. "Tell me about it."

Danny launched into the story:

_"Any one teach you not to run in the halls?" Danny hissed, as Ron bumped into him and they both phased into the bathroom through the wall._

_"Stupid Slytherin, get out of my way. There's a bloody ghost python in your brother's stupid room," Ron snapped._

_"Arrogant Gryffindor," Danny retorted. "You've never had a problem before now with Featherhead."_

_"Filthy hybrid!"_

_Danny's blue eyes turned green. "Get out of him!"_

_"Ooh! Scary eyes!" (1) the ghost taunted, using Ron's lips. "Make me, halfa." _

_"Bi-polar much?" Danny retorted, phasing his hand through Ron's stomach and fished around for a moment before emerging with a slimy red ectoplasmic worm stuck to his hand. "Oh, ick! What the heck are you supposed to be?"_

_"The Mind Control Ghost," the worm replied, snickering. "I love messing with humans. They're so much fun."_

_"Uh-huh," Danny replied, phasing through the floor to the lab below._

_Harry stuck his head out into the hall, seeing a dazed Ron coming to. "Sorry about that, Ron. I thought you were used to Featherhead by now. He says he's sorry, but he loves music too much and didn't mean to scare you like that."_

_"Huh?" Ron asked, majorly confused by now. "Weren't we just helping you to pack your trunk?"_

_"Never mind, Ron," Harry replied, "let's finish up before dinner."_

"I see," Jazz replied. "So what did you do with the ghost worm?"

"Dad wanted to experiment on it," Danny replied nonchalantly.

"Mom says if you guys are going to leave for England after dinner, you better get a move on. Dinner'll be ready in five," Jazz said. "I can't really see you alone in that creepy old manor alone for the next two weeks with Professor Snape."

"I have to keep up with my studies, Jazz," Danny explained. "The Howler powder he taught us how to make last week caused the police to issue Mom and Dad a noise pollution citation."

"A first," Jazz retorted, rolling her eyes. "See you downstairs."

* * *

Dinner in the Fenton household was a quiet affair, if you could call it quiet, with everyone taking refuge behind the kitchen table used as a shield while the spaghetti strangled the meatballs.

"Mom, how is lipstick going to stop that monster?" Jazz complained.

"This little beauty may be small, but it packs a punch," Maddie patted the small green tube in her hand. "This, kids, is the Fenton..." she paused and then shook her head. "Well, we haven't come up with a name for it yet."

"Which is why we have mucho insurance," Danny whispered to Fred and George.

"I heard that, Danny," his mother snapped.

"Check, please!" Harry quipped.

* * *

"Dobby not let Harry Potter get on school train," the House Elf muttered, ladling out the soup for Master Draco. The wizardling had elected to eat in his rooms so he could study his potions homework some more.

"What was that you said?" Draco asked,peaking over the rim of his school book at the House Elf.

"Dobby just talking to himself," the House Elf apologized. "Dobby punish himself for disturbing you, young master."

"See that you do," Draco told him coldly.

* * *

**(1) Vlad says this in **_**Maternal Instincts.**_


	7. Souls in the Word

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or Harry Potter.

* * *

**Souls in the Word**

* * *

_From the Journal of Harry Fenton:_

_I love this place!_

_Fred and George make all these little explosions; makes me feel like I'm back at home. I wonder what they're inventing this time. Something tells me Filch isn't going to be happy. (Then when is he ever?)_

_Mrs. Weasley fusses constantly over whether I'm eating enough or whether I have warm blankets. _

_Mr. Weasley likes me to sit next to him and ask me a million questions about what it's like to live in the Muggle world and without magic. Although how to answer the "how do plugs work?" question was a bit over the top, even for me. The post office was easy to explain, though._

_Never try explaining to a wizard how to use a telephone._

* * *

_From the Diary of Samantha Manson:_

_School letter came._

_Everything looks like it's Gilderoy Lockhart this, Gilderoy Lockhart that. Ru-ru was less than please and said that he looked like a pompous ass. _

_Owl has sense._

* * *

_From the Journal of Fred Weasley:_

_We took turns riding Harry's Nimbus Two Thousand up at the paddock. We had to fly low and use apples instead of real Quidditch balls or the Muggles would of noticed._

_Man, what a sweet ride!_

* * *

_From the Journal of George Weasley:_

_We're going to Diagon Alley to get our new school things today. Dad's got the flowerpot out and Harry looks queasy. Guess he's never flooed before._

_Mum's picture of Lockhart looks like a snarky git, sans Snape's greasiness._

_Hope I can get our supplies without Mum noticing._

* * *

_From the Journal of Ron Weasley:_

_When I think back on the events of today, this one stands out sharp in my mind. Harry has flew before, but he's never flooed before._

_He was so nervous, when he stuttered out "Diagon Alley". Mum's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when she found out where he ended up._

_Lucky he was that Hagrid found him first._

_I've heard nasty things about Knockturn Alley._

* * *

_From the Personal Thoughts of Draco Malfoy:_

_Borgin and Burkes._

_Knockturn Alley is by itself the creepiest place in existence, except maybe for the Shrieking Shack in Hogsmeade._

_Father has been afraid of the ever-growing threat that the Ministry will raid our home and find his precious collection of hidden Dark objects._

_Bah!_

_I really wanted that Hand of Glory._

* * *

_Hagrid's Book of Gigantic Wisdom:_

_If yer go to Knockturn Alley to shop for slug repellent, yer sure to run into a Potter. He's more like his father than he knows. (With his mother's lovely emerald eyes of course.)_

* * *

_From Jazz's Center of Peace:_

_As if._

_The first thing Mom and Dad insisted on doing was inspecting my brothers' handiwork. The portal is stabilized. Thank God._

_Danny's currently tightly curled in a ball in the farthest corner of the room; Mom brought in a spray of blood blossoms from outside. She says Danny needs to get acclimated to them. So long as he stays in human form he should be okay._

_(later entry)_

_I'm going to kill Youngblood (and Danny, too, if I found out he had a hand in it). I went to take a shower and used my normal shampoo and conditioner. When I went to untangle my hair, it was GREEN!_

_Mom said it was an ectoplasmic polymer of some kind that had bonded to the molecules of the hair soap. It should wear out in a few weeks._

_ARGH!_

* * *

_Hello. _

_**Hello back at you. May I inquire your name?**_

_I've never had a diary write back to me before, but it's Ginny Weasley._

_**Tom Riddle. How did you find this journal, may I ask?**_

_Well, it all started when we stepped into Flourish and Blotts earlier today..._

* * *

"Knocturn Alley, Harry? Are you crazy?"

Jazz's head swivelled around to look at her brother, who was bending the sink. _What did he do now?_ she mouthed.

Danny looked up and rolled his eyes in response.

"Yeah, I agree that was weird with Draco and his father being there too, but you're lucky Hagrid found you when you did."

He listened to something else Harry said for a moment, then grinned. "I'll tell her that. Good night."

"What did he say?" Jazz asked him wearily.

"He said the Irish would love you right now," he said, smirking at her. The green was finally starting to fade a little.

"Get out of here before I feed you blood blossoms," she threatened.

Danny's eyes bulged. "You wouldn't."

"Oh, M-o-o-m!"

"Jazz, no, I swear, I'll behave. I promise!"

* * *

**Author's Note: Shadowhunter4life is to be credited for the prank on Jazz in this chapter. Hope I got everything right, Shadow. :) And for everyone else, Harry will always think of himself as a Fenton, no matter what the Wizarding World calls him.**


	8. Shard's Edge

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: I own only my OC's.

* * *

**Shard's Edge**

* * *

Tempers were running high the morning everyone at the Burrow left to catch the Hogwarts Express. No one could find their socks; Mrs. Weasley had burnt the oatmeal; and Ginny had been scared silly by Featherhead who had been caught eating a jar of peanut butter.

Harry had to blink at that one. "I didn't know ghosts ate peanut butter," he told Featherhead, while he was packing his trunk.

_We eat sometimes. I didn't know England had peanut butter._

"Oh," was all that Harry could muster.

"Mum, wait, I forgot something!" George yelled, five minutes after they'd left.

Mrs. Weasley sighed. "Better turn around, dear."

It was a box Harry recognized as Filibuster's Fireworks. Poor Filch.

"Everyone got everything?" Mr. Weasley asked, as they all buckled in. He turned the key and started the car. "Then off we go to London."

They returned to the house for a second time because Fred forgot his broomstick.

And a third...Ginny had forgotten her journal.

"Did any one else forget something?" Mrs. Weasley asked murderously as they all piled sheepishly back into the Ford Anglia.

"No, ma'am!"

"Good."

_She's scary._

"I agree," Harry replied, then translated in a whisper for the benefit of Ron and Ginny.

* * *

Danny glumly accepted the packet of sandwiches from his mother-his stomach doing flipflops.

"Mom, I can't eat those!"

"Nonsense, Danny. They'll keep the ghosts away," his father insisted as his wife shot him a look. He ducked his head sheepishly.

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Danny, flowers are edible and this will build up your immune system. Besides you use these in some of the potions at your school, don't you?"

"Yes, but..."

"But nothing. Have you got everything packed?"

"Just need my robes. Youngblood has been fluttering around the room all morning, strutting in front of the mirror."

"I think you've grown some since last summer," Maddie mused. "We'll have to go shopping for new clothes over the Christmas break. Now go upstairs and finish packing. We're leaving in half an hour. If you're not ready by then, you can just fly yourself there."'

"Yes, ma'am," he glumly answered, trudging towards the dining room door. He really hated this house.

Jazz intercepted him outside. "Here, give me them to me. You should tell her what they do to you, Danny."

"I've tried, Jazz, but they don't understand," he replied, sighing heavily.

"I know, little brother. I know."

* * *

_Dear Tom,_

_No one's ever understood me like you, Tom. I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in. It's like having a friend I can carry around in my pocket. (1)_

**Dear Ginny,**

**I am glad to be of service. Tell me what is on your mind.**

* * *

"Who's Tom?" Harry asked, peering over her arm. "And how did you get your diary to do that?"

"None of your business," Ginny answered curtly, shutting the journal with an audible snap.

Featherhead stuck his head in the car window.

Ginny and Mrs. Weasley shuddered in fear as Harry wordlessly handed over the ecto-radio.

"I hate it when he does that," Ginny whispered.

"Me too," Harry whispered back. "At least he can be placated."

* * *

"Ow!" Danny yelled, his blue eyes flaring green. "If that's the way you want to play, then that's the way we'll play!"

"Danny, don't..." Maddie's voice trailed off as her son ignored her and went ghost. She watched him fire an ecto-blast at a tree, then dive to the ground.

"What's going on?" Jazz asked, peering up from her book.

"Your brother," Maddie sighed. "Fighting Youngblood again, so it would seem."

"So it would seem," Jazz murmured, returning to the book.

Nothing fazed this family, except maybe Jack's driving, which Maddie had adamantly refused to let him do this morning.

* * *

Dobby arrived at train station, invisibly to the human eye, and took up his station across from Platform 9 and 3/4. This way, he would be alert when Harry Potter came.

"Harry Potter not get on school train this year," he murmured out loud.

A passing Muggle business paused in his conversation with his colleague. "That's an odd thing to say, Charles."

"I didn't say anything, James."

"Oh. I wonder who Harry Potter is?"

"Dunno. We're going to miss the train if we don't get to Platform 10 soon."

* * *

"We'll have to take the car and follow the train," Ron said, his forehead leaning against the solid barrier.

"How could this have happened?" Harry wondered. "Has it ever happened before?"

"No," Ron murmured, shivering in the sudden drop of temperature.

Hedwig screeched as Danny materialized next to her cage.

"Sorry, Hedwig," the ghost boy apologized.

Mr. and Mrs. Fenton was not pleased, to say the least, with Ron's idea of flying the car to Hogwarts. The prospect of experimenting on Youngblood, who was trussed up with Fenton Fishing Line, was more promising.

"Explain again how you two missed the train?" Maddie asked, folding her arms.

"That's the thing, Mrs. Fenton," Ron replied, exasperated by this time. "We don't know."

"The barrier was fluid one moment, then poof! completely solid the next," Harry added.

"You don't think..." Danny's mind flickered back to earlier in the summer.

"We could just fly the car," Ron repeated.

"How will your parents get home, Ron?" Jazz asked.

"Apparate," came the answer.

"Oh."

"How did _you_ miss the train?" Harry asked Danny, as they sped along the clouds. To Danny's ghostly eyes, the car and its occupants were a dimly pale blue-almost white-as it was invisible, thanks to Mr. Weasley's ingenuity. If they'd thought about it sooner, Harry mused, Danny could have just phased them through the barrier.

"Youngblood thought it would be fun to play a game of tag," came the sour reply, as he flew alongside them.

_Told you!_

Harry ignored Featherhead's outburst. He frowned slightly. "How can you see the car and us, but we can't see you, Danny?"

Danny shrugged. "Must be a ghost thing, I guess."

Ron shuddered as the car's engine stalled. "Uh-oh."

Below them, a tree came rushing to meet them as they fell.

"Batter up," Danny quipped, as a branch swung up to greet them.

* * *

"Arriving in style, Daniel?" came the smooth voice of Plasmius, when the boys came to. The car was nowhere to be seen.

"Along with Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, I see," Professor Snape's oily voice snaked through the night air. "I will take it from here, ghost."

"I have a name, human," Plasmius hissed, flashing his fangs.

Professor Snape mock yawned. "Once upon a time," he replied. "Since Phantom is a ghost, I'll leave him to your jurisdiction, Vladimir."

"Thank you, Severus," Professor Masters said, his face puckered liked he'd been sucking on lemons. No love loss between those two.

"Daniel, if you'd come with me, please," the elder half-ghost said, gesturing for the younger halfa to follow him. "There's something I'd like to show you."

The three errant students shook themselves off, wondering what they'd done wrong now. Even more amazingly, was that Professor Snape, Danny's head of house, was passing responsibility along to another professor.

What a way to start the school year!

* * *

"Harry, what are we going to do about my wand?" Ron wailed as soon as Snape had left the room.

"Ron."

"It's broken in two," came the red-headed boy's sob. "Mum's going to kill me."

"More than likely send you a Howler," Harry said dryly, while wiping his glasses. "We're about to get expelled and you're worried about a broken wand."

Ron gave a nervous laugh. "Got a point there," he contended. "Wonder how Danny's holding up?"

* * *

"Phantom, I would like you to look into this orb and tell me what you see," Clockwork said, as soon as he and Plasmius returned from whatever discussion they'd been having.

Danny gulped. Having Plasmius invite the Time Master here to the human world must mean he in deep sheep. He winced at that thought. He had been hanging around Youngblood and his parrot too long.

Taking the orb in his hands, Danny felt his bones crackle and refit themselves. I'm a dog, he realized.

_"Got him, Prongs?"_

_"Yeah, Padfoot. Wormtail touch the willow's knot already?"_

_"Just now."_

_"Good. We're coming through."_

Danny disengaged from the vision.

"The Whomping Willow is an ultra-rare plant," Clockwork explained. "It hides a part of Harry's past. I would also ask you not to reveal this information to him."

"Yes, sir."

Plasmius nodded his head in agreement. "Professor Dumbledore won't expell Harry or Ron, Daniel. Don't worry about that. Your detention will be simple compared to their's."

"What will I have to do?"

"Apologize to Undergrowth."

Danny winced.

* * *

"Blooming idiots," Ginny said in greeting.

"Hello, to you, too," Ron answered, sliding into his seat.

* * *

**(1) Chamber of Secrets. (p. 309-310: direct quote).**


	9. From the Box Ghost

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: Vlad made me do it!

* * *

**From the Box Ghost**

* * *

**Slytherin Table**

"Whoa!"

Danny rubbed the din out of his ears. "I hear you," he muttered, "And I thought Jazz had a loud mouth."

Youngblood laughed as Ron stared down at his hands. "Seriously glad that wasn't us."

"There's still Undergrowth to face," Danny reminded him.

"Who is Undergrowth?" Draco asked, butting in the conversation. "I still can't believe you are talking to yourself."

"Nobody," Danny replied, then glared upwards as a flurry of feathers announced the second morning mail rush. A tiny brown package bounced off his head and landed in his bangers and mash. He wiped the label clean with his napkin and read it out loud.

_To: Phantom_

_From: The Box Ghost_

_I heard about the tree and think this might help._

"What the heck?" Danny exclaimed.

* * *

**Gryffindor Table**

_"Voyages with Vampires?"_ Sam cocked an eyebrow as she sat down next to Hermione. "Isn't that a bit thick to be reading before breakfast?"

Hermione laughed and propped her book against a milk jug, just in time to avoid Ron and Harry, who stumbled into their seats next and across from them. "It's fascinating what Professor Lockhart has done with his life."

"Sounds fishy to me," Sam replied, as a feather drifted downwards. Ruru circled overhead and landed on her shoulder. She handed him a sausage.

Hermione levelled the boys with a stare. "What were you two thinking staging a scene like that? You could've have been killed or expelled. I can't believe Danny joined you two in that venture."

Sam looked over to the Slytherin table to see Danny arguing with his spoon. Youngblood.

"Everyone looks fine to me," Sam said.

"Look, Hermione, no one was hurt. The tree is fine," Ron was saying as the morning mail call burst through the Great Hall's doors. A small milk explosion arrived heralding a small red letter.

Ron's eyes widened. "Oh no. Mum sent a Howler."

"Better open it," Neville suggested from his other side. "It's only going to be worse if you don't. Trust me."

The letter in Ron's hands began to smoke.

Harry's eyes widened. "What will they think of next?"

Danny's outburst following Mrs. Weasley's "tongue-lashing" captured everyone's attention.

"Who mails square flowerpots to their kids?" Harry heard Seamus mutter. "That's really weird."

"You're telling me?" someone else muttered. "Sheesh."

Percy Weasely kept his own counsel as he glanced again at the High Table where the teachers sat, chatting with one another. Professor Dumbledore was strangely absent. _I wonder where he is?_

* * *

**Forbidden Forest**

"Thank you," came the sincerest words ever spoken by a human.

"The willow is my child," the ghost replied, hunching over a strange purple cauldron-style flower. He stirred something with its depths. "The boy is safe?"

"Yes," the human replied, stroking his long beard. "He will be paying you a visit to apologize for his actions."

"The halfa's honor will not permit otherwise," Undergrowth straightened, turning to face the human in the half-shadows. "I am here to prepare the boy as you are his brother."

The wizard smiled. "Touché, my dear ghost."

"Likewise, human," Undergrowth smiled. "Likewise."

* * *

**Nightingale Manor**

Jazz stared down the owl hunched over on the windowsill. The owl unnerved her.

"This isn't typical owl behavior, so my brothers must have done something bad," she reasoned, reaching for the letter. The owl hissed at her and flew to the top of the stairs.

Jazz sighed.

"I take it then only my parents need to read it?"

The barn owl hooted, dropped the letter where it fluttered to the floor, and swooped past Jazz and out the front door as the Fenton parents arrived.

Maddie dived out of the way. Coming home to find an owl in the house and your daughter with a broom in her hands in the living room did not equal sanity in her eyes. Then again she hunted ghosts for a living.

"Jasmine?" she asked, fearing the worse.

"It's from Hogwarts," she replied, handing over the letter.

Jack frowned. "I wonder what they did so soon? I mean, we haven't even left England yet."

Maddie's violet eyes met his blue. She sighed. "How do we even know it isn't just the school informing us that Danny arrived safely?"

Jack's eyes lit up. "You're right, honey lamb. Let's open it and read it."

Jazz inclined her head as her mother's voice filled the air aftering breaking the seal with one sharp nail.

_Dear Mr. and Mrs. Fenton,_

_We are righting to inform you that both of your sons have arrived safely at school, if a trifle late. _

"See, Maddie-"

"Hush, Jack, there's more."

"Oh, sorry."

_The manner in which they arrived is not atypical for our students. Your son, Harry..._

"Uh-oh," Jazz murmured.

_"...arrived in a flying blue Ford Anglia accompanied by the car's enchanter's son and classmate Ronald Weasley. Both boys are safe, but will face severe punishment as determined by the Headmaster. They have damaged a very valuable, a very rare Whomping Willow on the school premises._

"A flying car?" Maddie said, trying to think of where Harry could have gotten a hold of one of those.

"The birthday party," Jack reminded her. "This doesn't sound like Harry at all. I really hope Danny didn't have anything to do with this."

_Your son, Daniel, used his abilities to soften the blows that would have otherwise killed your son and his friend. The Whomping Willow is very territorial by nature._

Maddie sighed. "It was too much to ask for."

_"Because of his unique nature, one like unto him has agreed to take the boy under his wing. Daniel is expected to make a full apology to another of his kind who healed the wounded tree. _

_Sincerely,_

_Minerva McGonagall_

_Deputy Head Mistress_

Jack sighed. "And here I thought we had taught them better."

Maddie nodded. "I'll fire up the orb and contact Danny."

Neither of them noticed Jazz who was sweeping up owl feathers from the floor.

_Why, oh why, couldn't I have been born into a normal family?_


	10. Mandrakes, Slugs and Blue Tinkerbells

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: Vlad made me do it!

* * *

**Mandrakes, Slugs, and Blue Tinkerbells**

* * *

**Outside the Greenhouses**

"I think I'm going blind," came a slight moan to Hermione's left. She shifted to see what caused Sam's grumble, and then smiled. Professor Lockhart was giving gardening tips to Professor Sprout, who was struggling not to strangle him with the bandages she was carrying. The turquoise and gold ensemble was eye-numbing to say the least.

"Looks like today's lesson is going to be interesting," Harry whispered, casting a guilty glance at the Whomping Willow, whose branches were wrapped up in slings. "I feel sorry for what we did to the tree, Ron."

"It's a bloody tree, Harry. Get over it," Ron mumbled, shuffling his feet.

"No, Ron, it's the child of the Ghost in the Wood. It broke our fall and is now hurting because of us," Harry quietly retorted. "We owe the ghost an apology much more than Danny does."

"Not you too!" Ron grumbled.

"Greenhouse three!" barked Professor Sprout, sending the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors into whispers of glee. Now, they'd get to see the more interesting stuff!

Harry's enthusiasm was dampened by Professor Lockhart's snagging him to talk about his "publicity stunt". The man was insufferable!

* * *

**Inside Greenhouse Three**

"What did the fashion reject want, Harry?" Sam asked, as he took up a spot between her and Ron.

"To admonish me for letting fame go to my head," Harry answered, "then he gave me some story about being a nobody when he was twelve. I swear, Sam, he is so full of himself, Narcissus himself is begging Zeus for a thunderbolt to smite him."

"And that's saying much," came the reply.

Hermione glared at them. "I think he's utterly brilliant."

"Gag me with a spoon," Sam muttered.

Harry concurred. "So what exactly-?"

"Today," Professor Sprout huffed in his direction, "we are going to be repotting Mandrakes. Anyone not wishing to be stone dead, will want to wear one of these." She gestured at the twenty or so pairs of earmuffs on the table in front of her.

"Can anyone tell me what the properties of Mandrakes are?" she asked.

Hermione's hand shot up first, followed by Harry and Sam, and a few of the Hufflepuffs. Professor Sprout chuckled softly. "Okay, since Miss Granger was first..."

"The Mandrake is also known as the Mandragora," Hermione replied. "It is used as a powerful restorative for people who are cursed or transfigured. Its cry is fatal to those who hear it."

"Ten points, Miss Granger," Professor Sprout beamed. "These Mandrakes are infants, so the earmuffs are to be worn as a precaution. Everyone, get your trays and let's get started."

Harry could only pray that Defense Against the Dark Arts wouldn't be quite so ego-centric in the classroom, especially when Justin Finch-Fletchley approached them with his admirable 'tale'.

He smirked slightly when he noticed Sam got stuck with the pink earmuffs.

* * *

**Great Hall, Lunch**

Draco shook his head as Ron Weasley, at the Gryffindor table, mimed getting another Howler, his wand bound by Spell-O-Tape. "That boy is a hopeless cause," he said, casually to Danny, who stirred his peas and carrots with a fork. "What's wrong?"

"And why are you wearing jewelry?" Millicent Bulstrode asked, leaning over to examine the silver clasp bracelet the dark-haired halfa wore.

Danny jerked back and covered it with his robe's sleeve. "It's nothing," he said shortly, scowling into his food. "Stupid, Plasmius," he mumbled under his breath. Luckily, Draco was the only one who heard him.

Millicent shrugged off Danny's non-response. She nodded over to the Gryffindor table. "So what's up with Weasley?"

"In Transfigurations, he turned a beetle into gray smoke that stunk of rotting eggs," Draco said laughing. "The poor boy is a useless wizard."

Danny pushed back from his chair, excused himself, and left the Great Hall.

"What's with him?" Millicent asked.

"He's been moody ever since he arrived," Draco answered, shrugging. "He'll be fine in a day or so."

* * *

**Courtyard**

"Colin, I don't want to take a picture," Harry said, trying to escape the first year, who had shoved a camera in his face.

"Please, Harry," Colin begged. "Everyone talks about you all the time. It would be great to get a picture of you to send to my folks-Dad's a milkman; he'd be thrilled I got to meet someone famous like you."

Ron and Hermione shook their heads in exasperation, as Harry sighed. "Colin..."

"Oi, Potter! Giving out autographs now, are we?" Draco's smug voice called out. "Everyone line up for signed photos of the great famous Harry Potter!"

"Shut up, Malfoy!" Ron growled.

Colin looked at both older boys. "Maybe..."

"You're just jealous, Weasley," Malfoy taunted. He laughed jeeringly.

"Eat slugs!" Ron yelled, producing his wand.

"Ron, no!" Hermione exclaimed, seeing the sparks from beneath the tape. "Don't do it."

Too late. Professor Lockhart, who had come over to see who was giving out signed photos, gave Colin Creevey the perfect portrait. When it was developed, it would show the handsome turquoise robed wizard bent double belching out slugs. Colin thought it was a classic.

The DADA class that afternoon would prove to be quite interesting indeed, Hermione thought, as Professor Lockhart rushed off to the hospital wing.

* * *

**Professor Masters' Study**

"The Slytherins are beginning to question the bracelet, Plasmius," Danny said, after he had been admitted to the study. "Do I really have to wear this?" He tugged at the silver cuff he wore.

"I'm afraid so, little badger," Professor Masters replied, coolly eyeing the younger half-ghost. "Your parents were quite adamant that until you apologize and make reparation for the damage you caused to school property, your powers will remain under lock and key. Also, I wouldn't tug or try to remove the cuff on your own-it can cause a nasty shock to sweep through your nervous system." He took a sip of his tea. "Or so it was explained to me. I wouldn't want to meet your parents in a blind alley during a ghost battle if they can come up with interesting doozies like this one."

Danny cast one final sullen look at the silver cuff he wore that cancelled out his powers. "Great," he sardonically replied. "Now, my classmates are really going to be wondering."

Professor Masters studied the boy thoughtfully. "The first step will be tonight when everyone is asleep. Can you come down to the library without Filch catching you?"

"I can ask Harry and Ron for help, I suppose."

"Good. Now, I believe you have a Defense Against the Dark Arts class to get to."

"Whoopie!" Youngblood shouted, sailing into the room, just then. "Wait, until you see what the lumphead's got planned for us. A lot of blue Tinkerbells."

"A _what?"_

"Pixies! Weren't you listening?"

Vlad chuckled to himself as the two children argued themselves back out into the corridor.

* * *

**DADA classroom/Vlad's Office**

"Shut up or he'll hear you," Harry hissed at Ron. "Last thing I really need right now is _him," _he nodded in the direction of Professor Lockhart, who admiring himself in a corner mirror, "to hear about a "Harry Potter fan club."

"Why think he'd be jealous?" Sam teased. "Oh, look, Danny's here. I wonder why he's wearing that silver bracelet on his arm?"

"Might be one of my parents inventions," Harry suggested. "It probably shorts out his ghost powers or something."

Hermione whistled softly. "I didn't know that was even possible."

Ron winced. "Bummer."

Professor Lockhart cleared his throat and tapped on the lectern to get everyone's attention. Neville's copy of _Travels with Trolls_ caught his attention. Picking it up, he grinned at his own smiling portrait. "Handsome devil, isn't he?"

"Full of himself, isn't he?" Draco whispered back in a low tone. The few Slytherins who heard him snickered in response. Danny frowned at him and shook his head.

Ron scratched his head at the pop quiz the gaudily dressed professor handed out. _How the hell am I supposed to know his favorite color or what his ideal gift would be?_He glanced over to Hermione, who was scratching away feverishly. Sam had her eyes focused on the desk where a covered cage sat, something flickered passed the covering every so often, giving a hint of blue of whatever was in it. Harry was just as stumped as he was. On the other side of the room, he could make out Danny, Draco, and a few other Slytherins whispering back and forth. "Joy," he mumbled, putting down his pen.

Professor Lockhart's hand touched his. "Glad you think so, Mr. Weasley," he said cheerily, collecting his paper and moving on to other students who had given up or were finished.

About ten minutes of ruffling through the papers, Hermione Granger was blushing/glowing with pride for having gained ten points for her House for remembering something about evil and marketing hair care products.

"Pompous windbag," Ron muttered to himself.

"Now, I want you all to remain calm," Professor Lockhart said, walking over to the covered cage on his desk. With baited breath, the class watched as the covered was lifted to off to reveal...Cornish pixies.

"They're not dangerous, are they?" Seamus Finnigan asked, raising his hand.

"Devilish tricksters, nothing more," Professor Lockhart reassured him.

Sam squirmed in her seat. Normally, she hated to see anything living caged, but these things...A green haze to her right indicated Youngblood's presence. Major trouble afoot.

Danny looked up. "Don't," he told the cowboy seated on the skeletal horse floating above their heads.

"Don't what, Mr. Fenton?" Professor Lockhart asked him, above the class's murmuring.

Danny ignored him and just stared up at the ceiling with an incredulous expression on his face. He gave a sigh of exasperation and threw his hands up in an "I surrender" gesture. "Fine. Just don't go overboard. I'm earthbound until further notice, so I can't clean up any messes you make."

Draco's eyes shot up at this comment. That explained the silver bracelet Danny was wearing.

Mr. Lockhart rolled his eyes at his student's eccentric comments. "Okay, how about I let you guys get a closer look at these little devils?" The electric blue pixies hummed with anticipation of their freedom, Sam noted.

Vlad paused in the act of putting a book back on the shelf and cocked his head to one side. "What was that?" he asked.

"Sounds like a high-pitched scream," Desiree replied, filing her nails. The genie ghost was gorgeous as always, Vlad mused, and very meticulous about her appearance.

"But from whence comes the screams? Now, I hear the running of footsteps and what sounds like..."

A spectral snake shot through the wall and grabbed the book out of his hands. Taking one look at the human, he returned the way he'd come.

_Of all the absurd..._Vlad shifted to ghost form and shot after the reptilian thief.

_"Peskipiksi Pesternomi!"_

Plasmius arrived to find the Defense against the Dark Arts classroom completely in shambles. Cornish pixies were running amuck everywhere. The students were scrambling under the desks; the haplessly unlucky Neville swung from the chandelier, his face red from yelling.

_So where is Daniel? He should be in this class. Oh._

Daniel was astride the ghostly horse that was galloping around the room, its rider's face full of glee as he blasted pixies out of the air. Daniel did not look happy. To his classmates, the sight of a human bouncing around the room on thin air must be an alarming sight, but then again, considering the situation at hand...Ah!

"What ever are you doing down here, Professor Lockhart?" Plasmius asked, sticking his head under the desk.

"Ghost!" the DADA teacher screeched, jumping up. A couple of blue pixies grinned as they spotted him. He yelped as they pinched his bottom, then quickly scrambled back under the desk.

"Where is your wand, man?" Vlad asked, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"They threw it out the window," Lockhart whimpered.

"And you call yourself an 'Order of Merlin, Third Class'," he smiled. "Well, I guess, it's up to me to restore order."

He stood up. "Hermione Granger, do you know any Freezing Charms?" he called out to the class.

"Several, sir," came the reply from the back of the room. Moments later, a sea of ice-encrusted bodies fell from the ceiling. Plasmius floated up to where Neville was and released him back to his classmates on the ground.

"Are you alright?" Plasmius asked him.

"Yes, sir," came the shaken reply. "Thank you."

The ghost nodded and then turned his attention the boy flying around the room. "Oh, do come down from there, Daniel. You look ridiculous from down here."

The bell rang then drowning out the boy's response as he tumbled to the floor.

Vlad picked up the book from off the floor, brushing hands with Harry Potter, who was also reaching for it. "Clever serpent."

"The best, sir."


	11. Unwilling Serpent

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: Vlad's promised me smores if I said I didn't own Harry Potter or Danny Phantom. So I don't. (Eats the gooey smores handed over by Vlad). Yummy!

* * *

**The Unwilling Serpent**

* * *

**Professor Masters' Office/Forbidden Forest**

Danny ducked as the ghost hawk spit green fire at him and turned Professor Masters' ornate cherrywood desk to white smoking hot cinders. A letter drifted down from the ceiling; the ghost hawk belched another fireball, reducing the chair behind him to char, then disappeared into the fireplace.

Danny picked up the letter by a corner of the envelope and shook off some of the soot. "You'd think my parents," here he stopped and checked the watery ink of the cover to make sure, "could have picked a better mode of delivery."

"I quite agree, Daniel," came the smooth eclectic voice of his mentor. "I did quite prize the desk, though the chair did creak a little."

Danny winced. "Sorry, sir."

"Quite alright, Daniel," Professor Masters said. "Well, go on and see what they have to say."

_Dear Danny,_

_By now son, you know what you must do. The bracelet will only be removed once you have made reparations for the damage you have caused, both to the school and to the ghost. We leave your discipline in V-Man's capable hands. (Maddie says hi, Vladdie!)_

_Sincerely,_

_Your Father_

"Not one for subtly, is he?" Vlad said, scanning the letter after Danny handed it to him. He folded it up and handed it back. Ready?"

Danny looked up at him in alarm. "Ready for what?"

Vlad gripped his shoulder with a claw of iron and the room shimmered around them like a mirage to be replaced by the dark foilage of the Forbidden Forest, specifically, Undergrowth's glade.

"I didn't know you could do that in human form," Danny said in awe.

"Human form weakens most of our powers," Vlad replied, teal eyes flashing red. "Undergrowth, I've brought the boy."

The dense foilage Danny had mistaken for a clump of weeds opened emerald eyes and stirred. "I have something to show you, young halfas. Phantom, Plasmius, what do you see before you?"

"A vine," Professor Masters answered.

"A snake," Danny said, peering at it more closely. "The vine is attached to its neck."

"Correct on both accounts," came the affirmation. "With this vine, I can control any creature's mental and motor paths. Shall I take control of the castle?"

"No," Danny told him. "It was my fault that put everyone in danger. I hurt the tree who is your child. I submit myself to you. Do to me what you wish, but do not harm anyone inside."

Undergrowth lifted the boy's chin. "Wise choice, young half-ghost. You have not yet obtained the power that can defeat me. When you do, then shall we do battle if ever you harm one of my own again. Are we clear?"

"Crystal," Danny whispered. The sound of metal shattering broke the night air.

Undergrowth took the metal bracelet and placed it within the trunk of an overgrown oak. The oak covered the impression with hard wood. "Such a thing should not come into contact with our kind."

Professor Masters bowed. "Thank you, Lord of the Flora. We have learned much here this night. May we take your leave?"

Undergrowth smiled. "You may. Both of you are welcome to visit me anytime."

Danny bowed like Vlad to show respect to this ancient of ghosts. "Thank you. I have learned my lesson."

Undergrowth shook his head. "One can only hope, child."


	12. Harry's Bad Day

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: Never have and never will.

* * *

**Harry's Bad Day**

* * *

**Corridor outside Gryffindor**

"Hello, Colin," Harry said, a bit exasperatingly. Had the younger boy memorized his schedule?

_I can see the headlines now._

"Shut up!" Harry hissed, as Colin stammered out a greeting.

Colin backed away. "Sorry, Harry, I only meant..."

Harry gave him a weak smile. "No, Colin, it's I who should apologize. I should have told you about my pet ghost snake that follows me around. I'm the only one who can talk to him."

Colin paled at the mention of Featherhead. "Is that why you were making those hissing sounds?"

"I suppose so," he said. "Speaking to Featherhead is natural as breathing air. I never thought about it being another language. Featherhead?"

_I don't know. I always assumed it was something involving your ghost hunting family that enabled us to communicate. Come to think of it, it's really only you who can. Most unusual._

Colin paled even further when Harry translated. "I'll talk to you some other time, Harry. I forgot about some homework for Professor Flitwick."

Harry scratched his head at the younger boy's retreating form. "Huh. I don't remember Professor Flitwick assigning homework last night."

_Maybe for the first years?_

"I guess," Harry said.

Friday rolled around and became Saturday bringing much relief for Harry. Hedwig was still ticked off with him; she hated getting her feathers ruffled. A spell from Ron's wand misfired in Charms, resulting in Professor Flitwick contracting poisonous green acne. Plus, the entire Gryffindor Quidditch Team was ready to strange their captain, Oliver Wood.

* * *

**Great Lawn**

"I have no idea whose neck to ring, Colin Creevey or Oliver Wood," Harry complained, flopping onto the grass next to Sam. She was painting a picture of RuRu with his wings outstretched.

_My wings hurt. Can I rest now?_

"Sure, RuRu," Sam said, dismissing him. "We can finish this later."

Harry watched the owl wing his way up to the Owlery. "A diurnal owl?"

"Apparently, magical creatures are different from normal ones," Sam said. "Why do you want to wring their necks?"

"Wood woke me up at the crack of dawn for Quidditch practice. He's too eager to get another opportunity to beat Slytherin this year for the Cup. I can only pray Hermione and Ron weren't mad because I had to back out of going down to Hagrid's," Harry told her. "Colin kept asking me every question in the book about Quidditch and then some."

"I see what you mean," Sam said, making no move to pack up her materials.

"Well, they did come and watch Wood deliver a long and winded speech about beating Slytherin. Personally, I think everyone was still half-asleep. I know I was. With his obsession over winning, heaven help us if he ever becomes a ghost."

Sam grimaced. "Don't even think that."

"Yeah, but Slytherin added fuel to the fire," Harry said, recounting the tale from that morning.

"What?" Sam yelled, outraged at the very idea of Draco Malfoy buying his way onto the Slytherin team. "That can't be legal."

"In the wizarding world," Harry told her. "It probably is."

"So what happened next?" Sam asked.

Harry sighed. "Seriously, Ron needs a new wand. It backfired, causing himself to spit up large, fat slugs." He grimaced. "We almost ran into Lockhart getting him down to Hagrid's hut."

"Was Hagrid able to cure Ron?"

"No, the spell had to run its course."

"Who was he trying to curse?"

"Malfoy," Harry said, looking skywards. "He called Hermione a "mudblood" which a high insult against Muggleborns."

"I'll hex him!" Sam shouted.

"Hex who?" Danny asked, popping up out of nowhere.

"Malfoy," Sam hissed, violet eyes narrowed in anger.

"What'd he do?" the half ghost asked, looking at his brother nervously.

"Insulted Hermione and bribed his way onto the Slytherin team," Sam answered, springing to her feet. "Come on Danny, we've got to think of something."

Harry shook his head. "Mom'll have the bracelet back on you if you get caught, Danny. Leave me out of whatever you two are cooking up."

"Can you explain to me, Mr. Potter, why Mr. Malfoy keeps tryin to bash his brains out, to put it mildly, on the stone walls of this castle?" Professor McGonagall asked him later, when he encountered her in the Great Hall along with Ron.

"No idea, professor," he replied with a straight face. _Must have been a doozy of a hex Danny and Sam dreamed up. Glad I decided not to be a part of it. Who knows what else they're going to cook up between them._

"I see," Professor McGonagall said in her crisp Scottish accent. "Well, in that case, you and Mr. Weasley here will be serving your detentions this evening. You, Mr. Weasley, will report to Mr. Filch, while you, Mr. Potter, will promptly report to Professor Lockhart's office at eight o'clock."

"Can we trade?" Ron asked her hopefully.

"Keep dreaming, Weasley," the Transfiguration professor said, shooting him down. "Besides, Professor Lockhart specifically asked for Potter."

"Can I legally change my name to Fenton in the next hour?" Harry asked, upon hearing this. He looked like he'd eaten a sour plum.

Professor McGonagall's mouth twitched slightly. "You can try," was all she said, before walking off.

"Why does Danny get off so lightly and we don't?" Ron complained.

"Because it was our fault to begin with," Harry reminded him. "He was punished, if you recall. Our parents took away his ghost powers for three days until he apologized properly to that plant ghost in the Forbidden Forest."

* * *

**Detention-Lockhart's Office**

Detention was as boring as hell, Harry decided, as he stiffled another yawn. He glanced up at the clock, while Professor Lockhart read a book. How much longer, he wondered.

A sharp chill ran up his spine.

_Rip. Kill._

Professor Lockhart looked up at him strangely when Harry mentioned the cold cruel whisper coming through the walls.

"No, Harry," he said, "I didn't hear anything. Why don't you get some rest; it's nearly midnight. I can finish the rest of these on the morrow."

"Thanks, Professor," Harry said, stiffling another yawn. Maybe, Ron had heard it.

Turns out, Ron pretty much thought the same thing, when Harry mentioned it. "I don't get it," he finally said.

"The thing is," Harry agreed, "I don't either. The voice seemed to come through the walls. It didn't sound human at all."

_What did it sound like? _

"Kind of like you did just now," Harry replied to the ghost python visibly curled up on his bed. "Move over so I can go to bed."

Featherhead complied, moving to the foot of the bed. _Put the music box on, please._

Ron rolled his eyes, when Harry did so. The rest of the group had by this time fallen asleep, so the sound of the music softly playing from Harry's corner of the room, didn't phase them. Then again, they were all used to this anyway.

In the end, Harry never did get quite figure out what Sam and Danny did to Draco. In glimpses, he thought he saw Danny's eyes flash ghostly green, causing Draco to whimper. A smile from Sam sent him running from the room, a frozen scream in his throat.

Blessedly, by October, everything was nearly back to normal. Nearly everything. Oliver Wood was still killing the Gryffindor team with surprise practice drills.


	13. Tag

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: Never have and never will.

* * *

**Tag**

* * *

Youngblood paused in the act of tagging the parrot. He, Myrtle, and the parrot were currently playing a game of tag on the Great Lawn. Harry and his friends were out visiting Hagrid. Danny was having "lessons" with Professor Masters and Sam was off somewheres-probably finishing that stupid painting of her owl. "Huh?"

Below him was a girl, the red-headed Weasley girl who was sweet on Harry. She had smoke coming out of her ears. "Hang on, guys, I'll be right back," he told the other ghosts, who, though slightly confused, just nodded in agreement.

Ginny looked up at the sound of the intruder, her thoughts a million miles away. A young boy dressed in ordinary muggle clothing with electric green eyes, green hair, and pale greenish skin, stood floating in front of her, staring at her with an intense expression on his face. "What?"

"Your head's on fire," he said, after a moment. "How'd you do that?"

Ginny gave him a watery smile. "It's Madame Pomfrey's Pepper-Up Potion. It's good for the common cold, Percy says. My older brother insisted."

"You don't sound like you have a cold," the boy replied. "You sound like you could use a cheering up. I know just the thing."

"What?" Ginny was afraid to ask the young ghost child.

"Tag, your it," he crowed, taking off.

Ginny blinked, threw her head back in laughter, and took off in pursuit.

* * *

**Professor Master's Office**

"Looks like they're having a lot of fun," Professor Masters said observing the game down below.

Danny floated over to his side, cocking his head in amusement. "She's never going to be able tag them, if they keep going intangible like that." Ginny was currently trying to tag the parrot who phased through her hands just as she was touching him.

"I should go down there and even the score a bit," he muttered, a faint smile on his face.

"Nothing stopping you, little badger," Professor Masters said, assuming human form once more. "I have a few scrolls to grade myself. Go out and enjoy the sun."

In all of the frivolity and frolicking ensuing out on the Great Lawn on that sunny Saturday, no one thought anything of the little black book on Ginny Weasley's night table with its blank pages. Nor of the dark aura emanating from its cracked leather cover.


	14. Deathday Cat

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: Never have and never will.

* * *

**Deathday Cat**

* * *

_Dear Tucker,_

_Rain, rain, rain. It's October in dreary old England. Nearly Headless Nick, Gryffindor's House Ghost, has been a bit morose lately._

_While we watched Ginny Weasley play tag with some the ghosts (yeah, Danny too), Sir Nicholas explained about a rejection letter he had received from Sir Patrick Delaney-Podmore. Sir Nicholas, you see, has been trying to join the Headless Hunt since he died 500 years ago, but a little strip of flesh has barred his way time and time again. As he puts it: "Half an inch of skin and sinew holding my neck on, Harry! Most people would think that's good and beheaded, but oh, no, it's not for Sir Properly Decapitated-Podmore." (1)_

"Hey, whatcha reading, Foley?" came the annoying voice of the school quarterback, Dash Baxter.

"A letter from Harry; he, Danny and Sam are attending a ghost hunter's academy in Scotland," Tucker reminded him, grabbing the letter back from Dash.

"Yeah, didn't you and what's her name go and visit them over Christmas break?" Paulina said, snapping her fingers as if she suddenly remembered something.

"Yes," Tucker admitted.

"Well, dweeb, read the letter," Dash ordered. "We're all ears."

Tucker gulped, adjusted his wire frames for a moments, then looked down at the letter.

_I, mean, jeeze, Sir Nicholas was dripping sarcasm with every word he bit off. Luckily, Danny and I consulted with Mom and another on a solution for his predicament. _

_Draco Malfoy, the blond Slytherin-if you remember, is stepping on thin ice around Danny and Sam. Sam's still pissed at him and convinced Danny to leg-shackle him to Klemper for an hour._

_Skulker is a new ghost, who is hell-bent on skinning Danny and nailing his pelt to the wall. He's a robotic ghost who styles himself the "Ghost Zone's greatest hunter". He does odd jobs for Professor Masters and is on his payroll._

Kwan looked a little green. "That's sick," he muttered. "Excuse me."

Tucker rolled his eyes and went back to the letter.

_Apparently, Danny ran into him one night on an errand for Plasmius, Danny's ghost teacher, and thought he was going to attack a student. Danny destroyed his armor; man, the guy is puny! Would you believe Skulker is really the size of an orange with red eyes and pencil-thin limbs? His voice is squeakier than Paulina's singing._

"My voice does not squeak when I sing," Paulina's eyes flashed angrily as she stated this.

"Actually," Valerie contradicted her, "it kinda does."

"Hmmph!"

_Had a run in with Argus Filch, our school janitor. I was talking with Sir Nicholas about his rejection letter, dripping water and mud, when I got hauled off to his office-a medieval torture chamber with filing cabinets-Fred and George have one drawer all to themselves. _

"Don't blame the guy," Star said, examining her nails. "I mean, gross!"

"Hush," Valerie said. "Go on, Tucker."

_Sir Nicholas bribed our school poltergeist into dropping a large, expensive vanishing cabinet in the classroom above Filch's office. Man, do I owe him one._

"Figures," Valerie laughed. "Only a Fenton could talk a ghost into doing that."

Tucker silently agreed.

_Nick invited all the ghosts in the school and more besides. A few mortals such as Professor Masters, myself, Danny, Ron, and Hermione also were invited-Sam had a prior engagement with our ghostly friend in the Forbidden Forest._

"A future ghost hunter is friends with a ghost?" Valerie said, slightly disgusted. "Talk about ironic."

"If you mind?" Tucker asked, shooting a glare at her.

_Horrible! Horrible! Horrible!_

_**"No, I's ain't. My name's Hoggle!" (2)**_

_Sorry, Tucker, but Youngblood had to have his say too, apparently. Here's a list; you'll see what I mean:_

_Light: long black tapers with bright blue ghostly flames_

_Food: moldy, rotting, stinking to high heaven_

_Music: fingernails on a chalkboard variety _

The group swung their heads toward Kwan, who excused himself again.

_Things got out of hand when the Headless Hunt arrived. Sir Nicholas couldn't even give his Deathday speech... _

_Danny here, Tuck. Featherhead just phased Harry through the wall to pursue a strange voice that's been setting the both of them on edge lately. So, let me finish the story._

_I lost my temper and morphed. Grabbing the ecto-shears, I forced Sir Nicholas' head to the side and cut the last evidence of his botched beheading._

_I breached ghostly protocol, but Sir Percy was beaming when Sir Nicholas threw his head aloft and cried tears of joy. His induction ceremony is set for one year hence since the deadline already passed.._

_Yes, I did apologize._

_Sam, Youngblood, and I went to a Halloween party in the Ghost Zone where we met the Spirit of Halloween, aptly named the Fright Knight. Would you believe, he bowed his knee to me and told me some day I would prove myself worthy of my lineage? Weird._

_There was danger when we returned. We ran into Harry, Ron and Hermione who were chasing a soundless voice slithering in the walls. It sounds odd, but only Harry and Featherhead can hear it. _

"Dude's mental," Dash muttered.

_Ron gave us a "Harry's gone mental" look when we popped in. The school's techology prevents anyone from teleporting into and off the grounds, but doesn't extend to ghosts. Thank you, Fright Knight!_

_Blood and feathers were splashed everywhere. Someone scrawled 'ENEMIES OF THE HEIR, BEWARE! THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS HAS BEEN OPENED.'_

_Filch was very distraught because someone had hung his cat up by her tail and petrified her._

Paulina whimpered. "Who would do such a horrible thing to a poor defenseless kitty?"

_Professor Masters had to cover for Harry, because Filch blamed him because of their recent run-in. Featherhead, according to Harry, kept complaining for hours afterward of chickens, blood, ectoplasm, water, stones, and the color red._

_"Colors have smells?" Star said in surprise. "You learn something new everyday."_

_I'll let you know what happens later._

_Happy Halloween, _

_Danny and Harry Fenton_

Tucker sighed as he folded the letter. "Well, that's it."

"Geeks," Dash laughed, turning to the A-list. "Who is up for pizza and a movie?"

"Me!" came the chorus, as the group turned as one and stampeded towards the Pizzathea, the only pizza/cineplex in town.

"Odd man out again," Tucker mumbled, scuffing the sidewalk.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

**(1) page 124, HPCS**

**(2) quoted from the movie, **_**Labyrinth**_

**(3) Yes, I know I'm jumping from plot point to plot point. There will be more action in the third story installment than herein.**


	15. Spiders and History

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: Never have and never will.

* * *

Author's Note: The POV switches from general to Dumbledore to Harry, just so there is no confusion.

* * *

**Spiders and History**

* * *

"What in the world are you doing?" Danny asked Youngblood, as he poked at the wall with a stick.

"Watching the spiders," came the reply. "I've never heard of them doing this kind of thing before."

Danny watched the arachnic parade for a while, and he had to agree with the pint-sized spectral nuisance. "They're running away from something," he said at last.

"Yeah, but from what?"

"No idea, but Professor Binns'll tell Plasmius I was late for his class again if I don't get going."

"Snore."

"Agreed."

* * *

History of Magic was interrupted by Hermione Granger, of all people, who actually woke up the class by asking about the Chamber of Secrets.

Featherhead was amused by this.

_Golden girl is much wise._

"Shh," Harry told him. "She's fishing for information that may be useful for us later on."

"What is he saying?" Ron asked. He was used to Harry's odd quirks including bringing his pet ghost python to class. Featherhead and he had a truce-if Ron didn't make any wise cracks about snakes and was respectul towards Hermione, Featherhead wouldn't bite him.

"Hermione's smart," came the reply.

"She's been in the library awfully lot more than usual," Ron conceded. Featherhead briefly turned visible and winked at Ron.

Sam and Danny were seated several rows behind the Golden Trio and had to fight to stiffle their laughter, when Harry flicked Featherhead behind his fringes.

"He fits in easily in both worlds, doesn't he?" Sam whispered, one head briefly touching his.

"Better than how it would have turned out had he stayed with his mother's sister's family," he replied, blushing.

"Why are you blushing?"

"Uh, no reason, why?"

"No reason."

* * *

_Later that evening, Harry, Hermione and Sam looked up to see Ron enter the common room triumphantly waving a piece of parchment around._

_"What is that awful noise?" Sam explained, shooting to her feet, as a mourful hooting wail wafted in the tower room, drowning out Ron's excited reply._

_Harry cast a silencing spell and scooped out the middle. "Okay, now what were you saying?" he asked Ron._

_"I got Featherhead to intercept Percy's owl," Ron said, grinning._

_"The snake ate the owl," Sam said, anger in her voice. "How could you, Ron? That was a school owl too."_

_Hermione paled. "Ron, Dumbedore is going to expell you for sure."_

_Ron groaned. "Mom'll kill me first. Maybe I can share Myrtle's toilet."_

That possible future brought a smile to Clockwork's lips as he shifted the portals around.

"That would have happened if Sam had not clocked Ron over the head for the sexist remark he'd made about female ghosts. Darkness is looming soon over this one's family. It was wise of you to befriend Ginny Weasley. A time is coming when her life will depend on those she loves, Daniel," the Time Master told the younger ghost floating behind him.

"Hello, to you too, Clockwork," Phantom said, a bemused smile on his face. "Shall we spar tonight or is there more of history for me to learn? Professor Binns is not exactly entertainment material."

"Yes," Clockwork said, "Come closer and I'll show you what happened in the Corridors of Time today."

"The girls' bathroom!" Danny burst out laughing, when the scene with Myrtle replayed before his eyes. "And I thought Tucker had it bad trying to sneak into the girls' locker room."

Clockwork raised one eyebrow in question.

"Jazz owled me today," Danny explained.

"I must meet this sister of yours someday," the Time Master said, changing fom from a child to an old man.

"Does it ever bother you?" Danny asked, indicating the ticking pendulum in Clockwork's chest.

"You get used to it in time," Clockwork replied. "Now, on to today's history lesson."

"Aw, man!"

"Daniel!"

"Sorry."

* * *

_It is as I have feared-the Chamber of Secrets has been open. Minerva and I had to take a young first year to Poppy's Infirmary; young Mr. Creevey's camera melted so there's no way of knowing what stoned him. Of this much, I am sure, he is as dead as Mrs. Norris._

_Oliver Wood of Gryffindor House has informed me of a Bludger that targeted his Seeker during this afternoons Quidditch match. Young Harry's suffered a deboning by our incompetent DADA professor. What possessed me to hire the man, I have no idea. I really should just give in to Severus one of these days. Heaven knows the man has more experience in these matters than most wizards or witches have in the last fifty years._

_Harry is safe in Poppy's hands; the Skele-Gro potion is safe, but very painful._

_Ginny Weasley, Professor Flitwick tells me, is much too pale these days. It's as if something is leeching her lifeforce from her. Possibility cause lies in the black journal she carries around nowadays. _

_I believe I have seen it somewheres before._

_The house elves in the kitchen are whispering of elven magic and Harry Potter. What connection could possibly those two have in common?_

_Lastly, I must wonder why Miss Granger has checked out the only book in the Hogwarts library to contain the Polyjuice Potion. Madam Pince was most worried; I do hope she is most careful with who she trades places with._

_Lemon Drop?_

* * *

_Okay, this day has gone from bad to worse._

_Everyone's afraid of me, whispering that I'm the bloody Heir of Slytherin. Then Snape had to know something; it was he who whispered that damned snake summoning spell during the Dueling Club to Malfoy, who is probably hoping I get expelled from Hogwarts._

_At least Snape hasn't figured out __**who**__ really exploded that firework in Goyle's cauldron. Featherhead says I'm seriously asking for trouble. _

_At least I have a name for my ability now._

_Parseltongue._

_Great. Another thing I have in common with the Founder of Slytherin House._

_Joy._

_Okay, joy again._

_McGonagall is frog-marching me to Professor Dumbledore's office at the moment. Someone or something attacked Justin Finch-Fletchley and Sir Nicholas. I just had to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and with Peeves of all people. (Sigh.)_

_I really I was a ghost right now so I could disappear into the woodwork._

_Danny, where are you when I really need you?_


	16. Polyjuice

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: Never have and never will.

* * *

Author's Note: We going to fast forward a bit in time to the next plot point.

* * *

**Polyjuice**

* * *

Danny frowned as Draco shoved the newspaper into Crabbe's face. Goyle read the clipping afterwards, then frowned. His suspicion deepened when a wisp of blue escaped his mouth.

Draco, noticing Danny's ghost sense going off, frowned. "Not Youngblood again, I hope, Nightingale."

"No," Danny said, groaning. "Featherhead's looking for Harry. I think he sneaked out at dinner time to do something with Hermione and Ron. Sam thinks they're brewing a potion of some sort; Ruru was complaining of a rank odor emitting off of them."

Draco sniffed. "Now that you mention it, I think I do smell a rat. Okay, where are they?"

"Who?" Goyle asked.

"The real Goyle and Crabbe. Or is Potter and Weasley?"

"We're busted," Ron/Crabbe muttered. "I thought Hermione said this spell was fool-proof."

"She never said that, mate," Harry/Goyle replied. "Okay, Malfoy, here's the real reason, we're here. I'm not the Heir of Slytherin, no matter what anyone else believes. Dad may not have revealed much about my family, but I am in no way related by blood to a Founder of Hogwarts."

"Never say never, Harry," Draco replied. "I take it that the real Crabbe and Goyle are somewhere in a broom closet locked up with some cakes or something?"

Ron chuckled. "Sleeping Draught."

Draco actually laughed at that one. "Thick lumps those two are. I'll have to thank you for that someday, Weasley."

"About my dad," Ron began, to be cut off by Malfoy.

"My father sent me the clipping with the last owl post," came the reply. "It is funny though, if you think about it. And no, I don't know who the Heir of Slytherin is; it's not me. "

"You two look weird," Danny said, scratching his head. "Like yourselves and not."

"The Polyjuice Potion must be wearing off."

Youngblood came soaring in, laughing his head off. " 'Mione's got a tail. Myrtle's telling all the ghosts."

"Millicent Bullstrode has a cat," Draco clarified; Danny nodded in confirment.

Ron and Harry looked at each other and grinned. "This ought to be good."

* * *

"Owl from Harry," Jazz sang out. Clanking and footsteps, followed by a short period of silence, preceded her parents up into the kitchen from the lab.

"Well, what have Harry and Danny been up to?" Jack Fenton asked, looking in the candy car for the fudge. No fudge. He'd have to find Maddie's newest hiding spot later.

Jazz opened it up, but the page was blank. "It's blank," she said, disappointment in her voice.

Maddie took off her goggles. "Hold on," she said, holding the paper to the light. "Yup, Fenton Disappearing Ink." Brown lettering appeared as if burnt onto the paper.

"So read it already, Mads. What are the boys up to?"

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_By now you must have gotten a letter from the Ministry of Magic. There have been three attacks so far-two non-human. Some sort of hidden monster has been unleashed on the student populace. _

_I found out from the memories of a student's diary from about 50 yrs. ago, our groundskeeper Hagrid was the one who unleashed the monster that killed a Muggle-born girl. They expelled him, but Professor Dumbledore let him stay on as part of the castle staff._

_A house elf named Dobby has been trying to protect me from some great evil. If he keeps on "trying" to protect me, he'll end up killing me instead. The last Quidditch match was barely won, but I lost all the bones of my right arm thanks to a rogue Bludger and Professor Lockhart. The man is a complete loon and full of himself._

_For Valentine's Day, he turned the Great Hall into a freaking pink nightmare. Actually, that's quoting Sam._

_Hermione's been in the hospital wing for the last month. She botched a potion and ended up turning herself into a humanoid cat. It was funny. Okay, not so funny. Danny just punched my arm. _

_Ouch._

_Oh, and Danny's ghost teacher was finally released by Professor Masters today. I can't remember his name, but he wears a trench coat and a fedora, has red-tinted glasses and no face. The night class is back in session._

_Hope this finds you well,_

_Harry Fenton_

"I don't like the boys being in danger, Jack. We shouldn't have let them stay for Christmas this year," Maddie said, when the letter had made its rounds.

"Danny hates Christmas," Jazz reminded her. "Besides, you can't coddle them forever, Mom. Chidren have to be free to live their own lives."

"Okay, Sebastian," her mother teased, tousling her daughter's orangish-red hair. "We'll stay out of it for now. But I am going to write to them."


	17. Fang's Poetic View

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: Never have and never will.

* * *

**Fang's Poetic View of the Events with Hagrid and Aragog**

* * *

**I** smell Red and I smell Black

Under the Shimmer Not See Thing

Master really scared.

**T**wo-leggers come

Sweet smelling man and baby

Master anxious.

**B**ad man who stirs up trouble

Tell sweet smelling man he now go away

Master mad.

**B**aby tell Master he go away too

To far away where bad people go

Fang unhappy.

**I** smell Red and I smell Black

Under the Shimmer Not See Thing

Listen to Master speak.

**F**ollow spiders

To Big Brother

Wise Master.

**S**pider brother mad.

Need meat for family

Kill Red and Black.

**B**right shiny thing

Bright eyes shining

Save us.

**M**aster not do it

Black says to Red

Fang knew.

* * *

**Author's Note: Yes, this is a filler chapter/poem told from Fang's POV of the events where Lucius, Fudge, and Dumbledore tell Hagrid he has to go to Azkaban up until the point where the Anglia rescues Harry and Ron from Aragog and his man-eating spider clan. It's short, but I didn't want to go into too much detail from the book. Next chapter will be the last. And it will be quite long. It will be up in a couple of weeks.**


	18. Secret of the Basilisk

Salazar's Heir

By: Wilona Riva

Disclaimer: Never have and never will.

* * *

**Author's Note: I am taking liberties with the rest of the story and changing a few things. **

* * *

**Secret of the Basilisk**

* * *

Gilderoy Lockhart hummed to himself as he floated around his office deep in thought.

_Those two boys know more than they are letting on. If they know where the Chamber of Secrets is hidden, all I have to do is follow them, let them kill whatever monster is hidden within, obliviate them and voila! I have a new book and might even get the Order of Merlin first class for my troubles._

He paused.

"That's nice," he told his reflection, who just grinned charmingly back.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was pacing back and forth in his office. Fawkes, his phoenix, looked at him curiously.

"You really should get on with it," he told him.

Fawkes coughed up a fireball.

"Yes, I know. The sword is in the hat. He will most definitely need it to defeat the thing."

Fawkes screeched in agreement.

The Headmaster nodded. He still didn't understand why a dream had warned him not to renew Charity Burbage's contract as the Muggle Studies professor two years ago, but Vladimir Masters, one of the most difficult of the students to grace these hallowed halls, had been more than an adequate replacement.

The half-ghost had been proven a most invaluable investment.

* * *

_My young master is searching for me._

"Yes, I know," Clockwork said, watching Harry ask Neville if he'd seen Featherhead. The stockier boy said no and then rushed around looking for his toad.

_It's hiding behind in the pillow. As if._

"You are a snake," Clockwork mused.

_I don't want to watch what comes next._

"That is your choice," the Time Master replied. "You chose to come back as a different type of snake and go to the boy. He will not know this nor will he ever, should you choose not to tell him. You may go to him when the deed is done."

_His nest-mate is wiser than his years._

"Yes, he is the son of two brilliant minds and has access to powers that should not have come to him for some years yet. Things have to change to accomodate for that spike in his growth."

* * *

"So where do we even begin looking for the Chamber of Secrets?" Ron asked Harry, as Amorpho put Danny through the paces. The half-ghost was grinning ear-to-ear as he split himself in two to avoid getting hit by the bludger. "Good thing Danny's in Slytherin or Wood would have him on the team with you, mate."

"I don't know. Aragog said that a girl had been killed fifty years ago the last time the chamber was open."

"Wait, fifty years ago?" Lee interjected. "Isn't that how long Moaning Myrtle has been haunting her loo, Fred?"

"Yeah, come to think of it, that's what I remember Sir Nicholas telling me at one point. Hey, did you see him scare Malfoy this morning with his disappearing head-throwing trick?"

"That was so wicked cool," Lee exclaimed, steering the conversation to less dangerous waters.

"Shall we go talk to her?" Ron whispered to Harry. "We shouldn't have come out here, mate. We should be trying to find Ginny."

Sam gulped. She handed a piece of paper to Ron. "Here, I found this on Ginny's pillow earlier today. You might want to read it. I tried to find you earlier, but couldn't. Sorry."

Ron swallowed. "Thanks, Sam," he said. His eyes scanned the paper. "She's gone to the Chamber of Secrets. Harry, we have to stop her."

"I agree," he said. "I think Myrtle may know where the Chamber of Secrets is hidden."

"It's over there," Myrtle said, when they asked her. "You'll have to use the hissing language the other boy used. English doesn't work."

"Oh," Ron said. "Parseltongue it is, then. Go ahead and open it, Harry."

"Yes, Mr. Potter, do go and open it," came the cultured voice of the glory hog aka Gilderoy Lockhart. "Show me how it is done." The teacher had been lurking around the Great Hall when he'd seen the two boys coming back from the Quidditch pitch and followed them here; though why they were out this late at night, he had no clue.

"Great," Ron muttered, reaching for his wand. "We're trying to save Ginny and we get busted by a professor."

"I will come with you, of course, to make sure nothing goes wrong," came the false promise.

"Uh-huh," Ron muttered, unconvinced.

"Myrtle get Professor Masters if we're not back in ten minutes," Harry said, eyes flickering to Professor Lockhart. "Please."

"Okay," Myrtle moaned. "Anything for you, Harry. If you die down there, you're always welcome to share my toilet."

"Gee, thanks."

"Think we're under the lake by now?" Ron asked, peering down the dark tunnel. "This place gives me the creeps."

"You dropped your wand," Harry told him, before they stepped up to examine some poisonous green colored snake skin. "Geez, this guy's huge."

"How many centuries do you think it spent down here?" Ron wandered, eyes darting in the dim light, searching for his wand. He found it; in Lockhart's hands, of all the rotten luck.

"Uh, professor, thanks for finding my wand. Can I have it back now?" Ron asked him.

"Certainly," Lockhart said. "Let me just take bit of that skin and...oh yes..._Obliviate!_"

The wand backfired and knocked Lockhart in next Wednesday and the opposite wall. Parts of the tunnel collapsed trapping Ron and the airheaded professor.

"Git," Ron said, snatching his wand back. "I could have told you not to do that. It's not working properly."

"Ron, are you and Professor Lockhart alright?," Harry asked.

"Yes," came Ron's muffled voice. "He's knocked himself silly."

Neither of the two gave any thought to how Harry was going to get back up with Ginny, but both assumed they'd cross that bridge when they come to it.

* * *

Harry didn't really expect to see Ginny alive when he ordered the living serpentine portal to the underground chamber to open. Entering in, he found himself in a labyrinth of serpentine pillars reaching from floor to ceiling decorated with elaborate scrollwork. Harry pulled out his wand and cautiously moved deeper into the chamber.

"Old Salazar must have really loved snakes," he muttered, seeing the motif everyhwere. Reaching the last set of pillars, he saw a black robed figure lying at the feet of a statue of an old wizard with a long beard and a monkeyish face. A flash of red in the gloom caught his eye.

"Ginny!"

The girl did not stir as Harry ran to her, praying to God that she was still alive. His face looked relieved when he saw her chest barely rise and fall. Checking her pulse, it was very faint, but still there. "Thank God," he murmured. "I've got to get you out of here and to the Infirmary. You'll be okay, Ginny. I promise."

"Don't expect her to wake, Harry Potter," a soft voice spoke from the shadows. Tom Riddle, was a bit blurry around the edges, but he had come forth out of the not-so-distant past. "I'm a memory, preserved in a diary for fifty years," he added, as if Harry needed an explanation, one hand motioning at the little black book next to Ginny's right foot.

"How did Ginny get to be like this?" Harry asked, puzzled how Tom Riddle had gotten in, no less Ginny, into the Chamber of Secrets.

"When little Ginny Weasley spilled her secrets as she wrote within my diary, it created a connection between her soul and mine. I have been able to draw from her life force bit by bit," Riddle explained. "Quite a bit of boring life she has."

Harry listened with growing horror as Riddle launched into a horrific story of what he'd done fifty years ago, his discovery of the Chamber and the quick hiding of it again quickly, and of what his connection to Ginny had cost her and him.

He wanted to throw up. "You're worse than Voldemort!"

Tom Riddle laughed. "I am Voldemort," he said, spelling the glowing letters of his name with Harry's wand, which he must have dropped while checking Ginny's pulse. The letters rearranged themselves as Harry watched.

"An anagram," he stated.

"Yes," Riddle admitted. "I was quite good at them in my day. Tell me, child, how did you survive the Killing Curse when no one else has ever managed to do so?"

"I don't know," Harry replied. "I was too young to remember."

The fight that followed is too awful to describe. Fawkes the Phoenix appeared at the last minute before Riddle summoned the Basilisk and threw the Sorting Hat, of all things, at Harry. Sticking out of its mouth was a jewelled blade.

Riddle smiled, his form stronger and firmer minute by minute. "How are you enjoying my pet, Potter?"

"Never better," the boy gasped, narrowly escaping the lunging jaw of the serpent by rolling out of the way. "Does your snake like classical music, by any chance?"

"Yes."

"Huh, mine too."

Fawkes blinded the Basilisk when gave Harry the opportunity he needed to drive the sword to the hilt into the mouth of the serpent, killing it instantly.

Riddle screamed in horror. "NOOOO!"

"Yes," Harry said, ripping out one of the monster's fangs as he withdrew the sword, dripping blood onto the stony floor of the cavern. "Even dead, this fang will have enough deadly venom to complete its task."

"No, don't do it," Riddle exclaimed, eyes wide in fear.

"Sorry," Harry told him, picking up the book. "Ginny is more important to me than your memory." Saying that, he plunged the dagger-like fang into the diary.

Smoke, screams, and a gasp from Ginny as color came slowly back into her face followed the act. Harry smiled briefly before the darkness claimed him, then left. He was alive, but how?

He saw the phoenix crying.

"A phoenix's tears can heal," Professor Masters said, appearing in his ghost form. "Professor Dumbledore surely told you of this, Harry."

"I thought I was dying," Harry told him. "Where's Tom?"

"Gone," came the curt response. "Now, let's get you and Miss Weasley to Madame Pomfrey. It was wise of you to send for me when you did, but very foolish of you get your friends involved. Daniel is beside himself, when he saw the two of you leave this evening's session in such a hurry."

"Not disappointed are you?" he asked Myrtle when Professor Masters brought them back to the surface.

"A little," Myrtle answered. "I was so looking forward to having company."

* * *

"Jack, where did all these owls come from?" Maddie asked in astonishment, when they came downstairs to breakfast the next morning.

"No idea, Mads," her sleepy husband answered. "Jazz?"

"They've already left," his daughter replied, around a mouth full of toast. "This one's from Harry."

_Dear Mom and Dad:_

_Okay, don't freak. Professor Dumbledore almost expelled us. You see, Ginny got a hold of Lord Voldemort's diary from fifty years ago. Can't tell you the how or the why, but Ron and I (with Hermione's help) managed to locate the fabled Chamber of Secrets and got it to open. There was this big snake with a look that can kill and it almost got Hermione, who had figured it out. Professor Sprout's mandrake potion will be able to revive her and the other students who were petrified, and unfortunately, Filch's cat too. The basilisk's poison almost killed me too during our fight, but Professor Dumbledore's pet phoenix-did you know that he had one?- healed me with its tears._

_Ginny is safe and alive. She almost died, but one of Featherhead's fangs took care of that. The diary is destroyed._

_Oh, and you are not really going to believe this:_

_FEATHERHEAD IS THE BASILISK!_

_He went to this ghost who can control time and asked to go back in time as another kind of snake so he could take care of me. I killed him, but he chose to do this, knowing what was coming._

_What an awesome snake!_

_Love, _

_Harry_

"Okay," Maddie said, "I did not see this coming. Jazz, who are the others from?"

"Uh, Professor Dumbledore, Danny, Uncle Vlad, and someone named Amorpho. Who the heck would name their kid _Amorpho_?"

"That's Danny's ghost teacher," Jack answered. "Probably a progress report of some kind."

"Oh."

Another letter appeared with a crack on the table. This time, it was written on a slimy grey sock.

_Dear Caretakers of the Great Harry Potter,_

_He set me free from bad master. Gave me a sock he did, but I thought he'd like it back. Great wizard might miss it. _

_Thank you,_

_Dobby_

"Okay, now who is Dobby?" Jazz wanted to know.

"Don't know," Jack said, "but the boys will have quite a story to tell when they return, I would imagine."

"In the mean time," Maddie said, " who wants pancakes?"

"Me! Me!"

* * *

The school year ended off with a bang, literally, when a firework in Malfoy's pumpkin juice exploded.

Danny and Harry laughed the whole way home about that one.


End file.
